ANTI-FUNGAL DRUGS TO BE DERIVED FROM CHINESE MEDICINES


Pharmagenesis, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company have announced a research and development agreement aimed at isolating and developing antifungal agents derived from micro-organisms associated with plants known to be resistant to fungal infections. Pharmagenesis specialises in developing pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals from medicinal plants used in traditional Chinese medicine. Pharmagenesis will retain all antifungal product rights in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Macao, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Lilly will retain the antifungal product rights for all other parts of the world. In addition, Lilly will retain all other product rights to applications for cardiovascular diseases, CNS diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, and hormonal disorders discovered from the plant-associated micro-organisms isolated by EcoPharm. According to Drug and Market Development, the anti- fungal market is expected to grow from $3 billion today to $5 billion by the year 2000.